1. Filed of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle which uses a motor as the motive power source, and particularly to a vehicle with high voltage lines.
2. Description of the Related Art
Vehicles driven by a motor have been known, such as an electric vehicle which uses a motor alone as the motive power source and a hybrid vehicle which uses both a motor and an engine as the motive power source. In both electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles, a motor is connected to an inverter which is, in turn, connected to a high voltage battery. In other words, such vehicles are made to run by feeding electric power to the inverter from the high voltage battery and supplying a drive signal from the inverter to the motor in response to the running status of the vehicle, with a high voltage line connecting the inverter to the high voltage battery.
In the event of a vehicular accident, there is a possibility that such a high voltage line may become a voltage hazard and cause electrocution. For example, it can be anticipated that, in the event of a car crash, the connection between the high voltage line and the inverter may be broken so that a high voltage is applied to the body of the vehicle, and, if someone touches the body of that vehicle, he or she may be electrocuted or suffer an electric shock. In consideration of this danger, various techniques have been proposed to prevent electric shock from a high voltage line of the vehicle.
For example, Japanese patent laid-open application No. 2000-152470 proposes a technique in which the length of the high voltage line is made longer than the distance between terminals, such that an excess length of the line runs around along the driving axis and the roundabout part is fixedly attached temporarily with a clip. Thus, in the event of an accident, the excess length of the high voltage line is released from the clip and made free to extend, thereby preventing disjoining of the high voltage line from the terminals.
In addition to separation of the high voltage line from the terminals, an electric shock may also occur because of the disconnection of the high voltage line itself. For example, the high voltage line may be sandwiched and disconnected between the inverter and the framework of the vehicle, and the disconnected part may contact the framework to create an electric shock hazard.